Four impressive young Aucklanders have been given tertiary study scholarships from the Gay Auckland Business Association’s charity wing, with AUT coming onboard to jointly fund two of them. Jacob Angus from Rosehill College and Courtney Bassett from Rangitoto College will go on to study at Auckland University with financial support from the GABA Charitable Trust. Mahurangi College Head Boy Daniel Collings will study communications at AUT with a joint AUT/GABA scholarship. Long Bay College student Vernon James has received the other joint scholarship, and will study a conjoint Business and Communications degree. They were announced at GABA’s pre-Christmas mixer on Wednesday. AUT Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack attended and spoke about the close relationship with GABA, explaining how the GABA-AUT Scholarships came from an evening farewelling US Ambassador David Huebner. “Due to a tribute from the Ambassador to the GABA Charitable Trust and our work including the scholarships, Derek suggested we might do something to make both our funds go further,” says GABA Charitable Trust Chair Gresham Bradley. “The two GABA-AUT scholarships came out of this.” Chair of the GABA Scholarship Committee Geoffrey Marshall says this is the sixth year of the scholarship programme. “We started by awarding one $2,000 scholarship and this year have progressed to four scholarships worth $3,000 each. Two are for study at any New Zealand tertiary institution while the other two, jointly funded by GABA and AUT, are specifically for students going to AUT,” he says. “The scholarships are awarded to out and proud lgbti students entering their first year of university who have shown leadership, and been good role models, in their school and in the wider community.” 2014 GABA Scholarships: Jacob Angus From Rosehill College, where he was a House Leader and Maori Leader. He was a co-founder of the school's Celebrating Diversity Group for which he had pushed for several years. He is particularly interested in developing young leaders from amongst the more marginalised groups in society and this is part of his desire to study Social Work at The University of Auckland. Courtney Bassett From Rangitoto College where she is a top scholar. She is heavily involved with the performing arts including writing and acting, and a satirical piece she created about the homophobia of Colin Craig can be seen on Youtube. She is also a published poet and an intern at a radio station. She wishes to study English and theatre at The University of Auckland. 2014 Gaba/AUT Scholarships: Daniel Collings From Mahurangi College where he was Head Boy. He was involved with many school activities in both the arts and sporting areas including being the coach for underwater hockey. To study Communications Vernon James From Long Bay College where he was Arts Captain. A person who hates being idle he has been involved in a myriad of school activities including organising a Straight Gay Alliance. He was also on the Auckland Council's Youth Advisory Panel and involved with many community charities. He has had his own company since age 10 called Balloon Mania which provides balloons for many significant events. He intends to do a conjoint Business and Communications degree.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 5th December 2014 - 8:07am